Mark Rypien sues NFL over ‘repeated traumatic injuries to his head’

Former Washington State quarterback Mark Rypien is leading a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, claiming the league was aware of the risks of repeated head injuries but ignored the problem.

Mark Rypien (Getty Images)

Rypien, who played in the NFL from 1988 to 1997 (and four games with the Colts in 2001), says he suffered “repeated traumatic injuries to his head” and now has “various neurological conditions and symptoms related to multiple head traumas,” according to The Washington Post.

The federal lawsuit, filed March 23 in Pennsylvania, include 126 other former professional football players. It alleges the NFL ignored “repetitive traumatic brain injuries and concussions for decades, but deliberately ignored and actively concealed” the information. There are 51 such lawsuits currently pending against the NFL, the Post reported.

They, along with the other plaintiffs, seek “medical monitoring, as well as compensation and financial recovery” for what the lawsuit describes as long-term and chronic “injuries, financial losses, expenses and intangible losses.”

“Our class-action wants the league to check all of these players out, and if they’re okay, give them a clean bill of health,” (attorney Gene) Locks said. “And if not, we want them to pay for medical care so these players’ conditions, hopefully, don’t get worse. And if the players’ conditions are serious enough, we hope the league will give them compensation.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said repeatedly that his goal is to lower the risk of head injuries in the league. He has handed out hefty fines and suspended players for helmet-to-helmet hits over the last several seasons.

Player safety also is why Goodell has come down so hard on those involved with the bounty system at the New Orleans Saints, including an indefinite suspension against defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and a one-year suspension for head coach Sean Payton.